Marked for Khama Furman
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad21 Sep 2026
Gift Furman was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Morgan Mkhize is 19, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Match19 Sep 2026
It finished 1‑0, and it was Kermit Jali’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Platinum Stars.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.15, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 18 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Itumeleng Tau kept it short after the 1‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
Somebody else is better right now than Thamsanqa Tau
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
Market21 Sep 2026
Platinum Stars have let the market know Kermit Mokotjo can be had. No price in the advert, but everyone in the trade knows roughly what it says.
Squad21 Sep 2026
At 25 he has taken a place rather than been given one, and somebody else has to find something to say about it. Platinum Stars have a decision that made itself.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market31 Aug 2026
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Platinum Stars, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market31 Aug 2026
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Platinum Stars have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Squad31 Aug 2026
A fracture rules Thamsanqa Kekana out for 24 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Platinum Stars will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Kermit Jali beats them one at a time
Successful dribbles: 25. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Market31 Aug 2026
The bid was some way short and Platinum Stars did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Match29 Aug 2026
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Platinum Stars are no longer polite ones.
The dugout31 Aug 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Thulani Vilakazi, and the manager let it.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Hlompho Phiri did the work nobody counts — 7.01
10 combined actions and 7.01. The job he did is the one that shows up as other people looking good, and the only reliable way to notice it is to watch what happens on the afternoons he is missing.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
A performance of 8.05 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market17 Aug 2026
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Platinum Stars have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Squad17 Aug 2026
39 days out for Thamsanqa Kekana after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Platinum Stars will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
The deal with University of Pretoria is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
$100.0K on the table at Mamelodi Sundowns. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Gift Furman in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Platinum Stars this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match15 Aug 2026
0‑1 to Kaizer Chiefs, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Words at Platinum Stars training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Thamsanqa Tau is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
The dugout17 Aug 2026
The manager makes an example of Thamsanqa Tau
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
The dugout17 Aug 2026
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑1 Itumeleng Tau left the room before anybody could ask which.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market3 Aug 2026
The offer from Gor Mahia for Khama Furman was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Gift Furman and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Words at Platinum Stars training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kermit Mokotjo is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
Leicester City have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
The dugout3 Aug 2026
Kermit Jali asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
Squad3 Aug 2026
A strip of cloth that decides nothing on the pitch and tells the dressing room whose opinion counts. The manager has made a statement without making one.